It's All About Trust
by serenitysea
Summary: Oracle invaded Helena's privacy. When she runs from the one person who she thought would never hurt her, she goes to Reese. Her choice effects more people than she realizes, pushing someone too far. Now both sides have to compromise to get her back.
1. It begins

It's all about Trust

**PG-13**

**Serenity Sea**

**(Serenity_Sea@yahoo.com)**

**Author's notes**: Sequel to "You've Earned It." Very shipper inclined. 

**DISCLAIMER**: Don't own any of the BoP characters. Although I do want an Alfred for my house.

**DISTRIBUTION:** You want it, it's yours. Just let me know where it's going. 

**SPOILERS**: Just what's happened in "You've Earned it," though I am DYING to write one after the black canary ep – Helena giving Reese the ring was to die for. I was watching the episode on my bed chanting, "Kiss her, kiss her!" My parents, needless to say, were more than a bit disturbed by my behavior. 

**Summary**: When you've been hurt, you turn to people for help. Well, Helena's been hurt by someone she though would never hurt her… and she turns to Reese. 

**Message Board**: http://pub64.ezboard.com/bseaofserenity/

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***

(Two nights later.)

Helena flew in from a side window and landed next to Oracle, noting, with a small grin, that her friend had flinched at her arrival.

"So what's on the agenda for tonight?"

The skilled redhead continued to track the data on the screen before her, blatantly ignoring her protégé.

"Barbara?"

After a few more minutes of this, to the point where Helena was about to just give up and go home, Barbara turned her chair around and faced her.

"You told Reese what your real name was."

For a second, Helena vaguely resembled a fish – the gaping mouth, and all, as she tried to formulate a response. Shock, fear – for some reason – hurt, and anger bubbled to the surface. As always, however, it was the anger that cleared her mouth.

"And you would know this how?"

She had the grace to look slightly chastened. "I planted an bug on you after you left us on the roof. It was just to make sure you weren't going to try anything stupid. I was worried for you, and I honestly planned to turn off the transmitting frequency after I knew you'd gone back to the park."

The brunette's sapphire eyes were colder than Mr. Freeze's ice gun. "How much did you hear?"

"I was going to turn it off, but after you gave him your name, I wanted to make sure…"

"_How much. Did. You. Hear?_"

Barbara closed her green eyes and put a hand to her head. "All of it."

Helena stared at her with disgust. "Son of a…" She turned around sharply and headed for the Clocktower's observatory deck, ignoring Barbara's pained cries after her.

Dinah, coming inside from doing her astrometry homework, narrowly missed being flattened and got the front-row seat to watching Helena throw herself off the Clocktower's ledge – easily the highest perch in New Gotham. 

"Barbara!" She screamed, running into the lair. 

"What? What's wrong?" 

Dinah swiped a tear away that had escaped her eyes, "Helena just jumped."

Her shoulders slumped, but she kept a blank face. "She made it."

"How do you know?"

"Because with her, she'd jump and survive it just to prove that she _could_."

***

Helena might have survived the jump, but she was still hurting inside, and that caused her landing to be off. Well, that and the fact she hadn't tried jumping off _80-story_ buildings before. She preferred to keep it under 50.

But now she had a dilemma. She didn't know where to go. If she went home, she had no doubt Barbara would be there or Dinah would be there, because Barbara had sent her over.

And if she went somewhere like "No Man's Land," the word would get out and she'd know where to find her. Besides, it wasn't like she could _sleep_ there. It was a bar; a hangout for metas, and even though she had just flown 80 stories, she wasn't feeling particularly meta right now. In fact, she was fairly certain that the ache inside her wasn't something metas normally felt.

Which left her with exactly one option. 

_Reese_.

Even if Barbara _did_ manage to track her down and found out she was hanging around him, she wouldn't _dare_ come near her. He was strictly off-limits, and she knew it.

Except she didn't know where to find him. 

***

Being a police officer in New Gotham, with the metas – except for the good guys, like Helena and her blonde friend he'd seen once or twice – the crime lords, and the myths and legends that made this city the crime 'hot-spot' that it was, was a bitch. 

You couldn't leave your car unlocked, your windows open, or, he smirked as he rounded the corner to his office (which they'd given him after his new partners had, oh yeah, _died_) your door open. Someone had left the light on in there, and he was sure he'd turned them off when he left at six earlier.

Sighing, he pushed the door open wider and stopped in his tracks. 

Helena was sitting in his desk chair, fast asleep. He stepped closer and saw the dried tear tracks on her cheeks.

"Damn." He murmured, unable to keep his hand from touching her cheek.

Instantly, her eyes popped open, revealing a brilliant dark blue. "Hey," she unfolded herself gingerly. "I didn't know where to find you and I wasn't quite up to combing the streets, so…"

"You figured I'd show up here," he finished for her. "Do you think I _live _here?"

She smirked. "I was _right_, wasn't I?"

Reese shook his head and smiled. "So what's up?"

Helena sighed heavily. "I had a pretty massive fight… with one of my friends and… I didn't know where else to go."

His eyebrows rose. "You couldn't go home?"

"No." She shook her head, looking away. "She would know I was there."

"So you don't _want_ her to find you?"

She stood up, smiling bitterly. "Not at _all_."

Reese seemed to understand what she wasn't saying. He grabbed the folders sitting on his desk. "Well then. Let's go."

Helena fell into step behind him and they walked out of the GCPD together into the dark night. 

***

He turned the key in the lock and stepped aside to let her walk in first. She looked around as he relocked the door and hung his coat up. He reached for hers and she reluctantly handed it over. It was leather. She was _attached_ to her leather. Plus, it still smelled faintly of the last meal Alfred cooked at the Clocktower. 

His mistook her hesitation for a lack of enthusiasm at his place. "It's not great, but it keeps me dry and fed when I need to be so—"

She put her hand on his shoulder and looked up into his eyes, sincerity pouring through. "Reese. This is fine. _Thank you_."

Actually, it was in one of the nicer sections of town and even though he was a bachelor, it lacked the bad-smelling, playboy-poster-strewn, three-day-old-laundry look. And, a plus – it was relatively clean. That was more than she could say about _her_ place. 

Helena turned back to mention something along those lines, but he was gone. "Well," her eyebrow quirked, "that's the first time he's disappeared on _me_."

A door creaked and she automatically tensed, then Reese came out and she fell back onto the couch behind her with a sigh. "I'm being paranoid."

"Talkin' to the voices in your head again?" He asked, dropping a wifebeater and pair of boxers in her lap.

"Actually," she reached up and unclasped the mesh-chain around her neck and pulling a small earring out of her ear, "no." She cupped the technology disguised as jewelry in her right hand and looked up at him. "Got any tinfoil?"

"You are weird." He stared at her, gauging her reaction. Something must have satisfied him, because he left the room and returned a few minutes later with a sheet of tinfoil as long as her arm. 

Her eyebrows reached maximum skeptical height. "That's one way to handle it." She poured the mesh into the aluminum and rolled it carefully in a ball. Then she got up and placed it into her jacket pocket.

She picked up the clothes on the sofa cushions and stood uncertainly in the living room. 

"Second door on your right." Reese said, still watching her actions.

"Gotcha."

Several minutes later, she emerged wearing his shirt and boxers and from the looks of it, they fit her pretty well.

"You're lucky I'm so skinny," he joked. 

Helena grinned. "Or that I'm so perfect." She settled into the couch and curled up under the covers he'd put out when she had changed. 

Reese smiled at her warmly and gave her a slightly challenging look. "How did you know I was coming back to the precinct?"

"I didn't."

"So what would you have done if I hadn't come back?"

She looked at the ceiling and then at him. "Probably resorted to that thing you guys call a phone book." 

Reese shook his head and laughed. "Night." He gave her an offhanded wave over his shoulder and closed the door to his bedroom.

"Night." She whispered and closed her eyes.

***

It was an annoying buzz that woke her. "Oh god, somebody shut that thing _up_!" 

She fumbled for something, anything, to turn off the alarm and her close-eyed search was rewarded with a television remote. She rolled slightly and threw the remote with all her strength in the direction of the noise. 

Reese barely had enough time to duck his head back when a TV remote went flying past him and _nailed_ the alarm clock by his bed. 

Immediately the noise stopped and Helena smiled. "Better," she murmured and flipped back over so her back was to Reese. 

He shook his head and decided it was safe to step into his living room, hoping the whole 'war-zone' phase was over. He had gotten as far as the coffee table when she spoke from her nest on his couch.

"By the way, haven't you moved into the 21st century yet? We use _music_ to wake us up. Not alarms. It's very last century."

Reese had to smile at the sound of her muffled voice and found himself replying in kind – before coffee (!). "Unfortunately, music doesn't wake me up."

"Sounds like it's gonna have to now. My aim is _never_ off and I know I got that one."

"Yeah, I noticed. Is this something I should be warned about or does this weird-morning behavior only happen once in a while? And you _will_ be buying me a replacement alarm clock."

Realizing resistance was futile; Helena turned back over and pushed the covers off her body. "Fine." She rubbed her eyes gently and then stretched like a cat, unknowingly giving him a full view to her killer abs and arms. For the first time that morning, she opened her eyes and proceeded to stare at him. "But I'm getting you one with a music combo. That thing takes five years off your life."

She rose and headed into the kitchen, returning with two mugs full of coffee, and handed one to him.

"So you gonna tell me what happened last night?" He stared at her until she grew extremely uncomfortable. It suddenly occurred to her that this 'stare' thing could go both ways. 

"I already told you!" Helena threw her hands up in the air. "I had a fight… with one of my friends… and I didn't feel like being found."

He sipped his mug slowly. "That's it."

She looked up from her coffee to give him a 'get real' look. "Look, I really don't feel like talking about it, all right?"

He put up his free hand, surrendering. "I'm backing off now… but Helena, it's not good for you to leave that sort of thing locked up."

Her eyes shimmered with what dangerously felt like tears. "You really want to know what happened? _Fine._ I'll tell you. My friend – the one who pissed me off last night? – put an eavesdropping device on me and listened to our entire conversation. The one where I told you my name, remember? She heard the entire thing."

And that pretty much did it. Tears fell unchecked and angrily swiped them away. "Like, I always knew she could do something like that, but I trusted her not to. And she let me believe she didn't know, for whole two days. The only reason she even brought it up was so she could _yell_ at me. God." She leaned her head against the headrest. 

Reese sat down next to her and took her coffee to place it on the table in front of them. Then, carefully, he put his arms around her and was a little surprised she moved until she was pretty much in his lap, leaning against his chest.

"Where does she get off doing that, huh? You don't do that to your friends. Would _you_?"

He rested his chin on the top of her head. "No."

Her body shook slightly as she tried to hold back from full-on crying and he tightened his arms around her as a subtle reminder that he was there.

After a few minutes, she sat up and wiped the wetness from under her eyes. "God. I never do this, I'm so sorry." 

He reached behind him and handed her a tissue. After she was done blowing her nose, he put his hands on her shoulders and leaned down to look in her eyes. "Helena, I know how much you value your privacy. Hell, I think everyone does. And I'm honored you came to me first, instead of doing that 'something stupid' your friend was trying to protect you from. But you can't run from this forever. Eventually, you're going to have to talk to her." He felt the muscles under his hands relax until he was holding her up by the shoulders.

She lifted her head until he could see the sparks in her eyes. "I'm not going there and apologizing for what I did. _I_ wasn't the one who was wrong." He gave her a stern look and she relented. "But I'll go and see if I can make things a little less awkward if I happen to run into her on the street."

Reese squeezed her shoulders gently. "Hey. You can stay here as long as you want, but I think you should let her know where you are—" he could feel her tensing up, so he reworded his statement, "—or at least that you're safe. Because if I were her, I'd be pretty worried about you."

He waited until her eyes softened a bit and then kissed her on the forehead. "Come on. If you're not going back to see her, you're going to help me at work." He smiled at her look. "Don't worry. I'll keep you out of sight."

***

"I just can't find her. It's like she's disappeared. She's not at her place, she's not at "No Man's Land," she hasn't even been seen on the rooftops. Where could she be?"

Dinah walked in, munching on some cereal. "Did you try her earpiece?"

Barbara rolled her eyes and flicked a knob on next to her. The room was suddenly filled with a high-pitched screeching that caused Dinah to drop her bowl and cover her ears in pain.

"And _that_ is why I don't allow food in here." She muttered, calmly turning off the switch.

"What _was_ that?" The blonde asked, slowly moving to pick up her breakfast. 

Barbara sighed. "That was Helena, being smart and taking her earpiece and transponder out and putting them in aluminum foil, effectively blocking my signal when I try to trace her and leaving me a nice present in return. I knew I shouldn't have taught her that," she mumbled under her breath.

Dinah pretended not to hear that last bit.

***

There was a whooshing of air beside her and Barbara knew that Helena was standing there, looking at her, waiting for her to speak.

"What did you do today?"

"Helped Reese at the precinct." 

Barbara flinched. "He knows what you do and he's letting you be there?" She was still hurt that Helena would give up everything to him.

There was a moment of silence between them that Barbara had the feeling Helena was more comfortable with then she was.

"That's the funny thing with relationships," she turned away and got ready to jump, leaving Barbara by herself to watch the sunset as her voice wafted back up to her, "It's all about trust."

By now, she knew to just let her go. It was better that way. To let her go and blow off steam – eventually, she'd cool down and come back – she always did.

Only this time, she had a feeling that things were going to be a lot different from now on. 

***

Should I turn this into a series? Hmm… decisions, decisions.


	2. Reunions are a form of torture

It's All About Trust Chapter 2  
  
PG-13  
  
Serenity Sea  
  
(Serenity_Sea@yahoo.com)  
  
Author's notes: Back by popular demand, here is chapter 2 of the "Trust" series. This is in no way, shape, or form related to my other BoP fic, "Special Delivery." That is in a complete other universe, though you may want to at least check it out if you haven't already, because it is a fun read for the non-connected storyline.  
  
* * * * *  
  
By now two months have passed. Huntress and the Detective have moved easily into patterns of habit - something that takes couples years to accomplish - and are well used to each other's moods and likes and dislikes. They have reached a comfort level only known to few, but that is not the surprising part. After all this, most of the awkwardness between them has passed easily and is now a thing of the past. Whether out of necessity or sheer will, the attraction between them is hidden well.  
  
It remains like a secret passage that has been hidden for several hundred years.  
  
Just waiting to be acknowledged.  
  
***  
  
"Dinah, have you seen my black headband?"  
  
A dark blur whizzed by Barbara Gordon's eyes and she instinctively flinched backward to avoid contact. It landed to the left of the keyboard she was working on and resolved to be the object in question.  
  
"Thanks," she called and returned to her work.  
  
A few minutes later, Dinah Lance came through the elevator doors. "Sorry. I was in the middle of training. Did it at least land near you?"  
  
She favored her with a smile. "Right next to me, actually. You're getting better with the Batarangs, aren't you?"  
  
Dinah tucked a stand of her hair back and smiled modestly. "I kind of picked it up the other night."  
  
Since she had only been out on weekends - a rule Barbara had instituted when Dinah first showed promise of being who they really wore - it hadn't come as easily as it might have if circumstances were different. The fact that she had been out more frequently on a sweep route that belonged to their curiously absent third member was only too clear in their minds and a silence pervaded the too-quiet Clocktower.  
  
Just then, the doors to the elevator swooshed open, and they looked and saw Helena Kyle striding into the room with a grin on her face, like she'd never left and hadn't been missing for the past month. She was clad in her usual black leather, though her necklace and earrings were conspicuously absent. "Surprised to see me?"  
  
Barbara managed to recover first. "A little."  
  
The brunette's eyebrows rose briefly and then she flicked her gaze at Dinah. "Gibson says you're getting to be quite the fighter these days."  
  
Dinah, who was feeling unexplainably upset at her friend, replied bitingly, "Somebody had to do it, right?" She made a hasty retreat up the stairs and out of the room before Helena could say anything.  
  
"She's feeling a bit. abandoned." Barbara offered, staring at her former ward. "And probably confused as to why you're here. Why are you here, anyway?"  
  
"You two sure know how to make a girl feel welcome," Helena replied, staring at the spot where Dinah had left. With an effort Barbara wouldn't have caught if she hadn't known her well, she came back to herself and the strange look left her eyes. "I can't stay," Helena sighed, not sounding too upset, "I just came to ask for directions."  
  
As if it were a perfectly normal request that she had entertained before.  
  
Barbara stared for a minute and then shook herself. "Of-of course. Where?"  
  
"The nearest McDonald's. Reese had a bad day and I know he's going to be craving a Big Mac."  
  
Something in the familiar way she spoke, robbed Barbara's mind of a comprehendible thought even as her fingers flew over the keyboard for an answer. She almost wanted to go slower, to delay the woman who'd now become a stranger to her from leaving as she doubtless would as soon as she'd gotten her information - that was the way Huntress dealt with things, anyway - but her pride wouldn't let her, so she unemotionally answered, "There's one on 6th and Morran."  
  
An uncomfortable silence stretched between them.  
  
"Oh," Helena said quietly as Barbara asked, "Was that all you needed?"  
  
She flashed her a smile that was probably meant to be reassuring but wound up looking forced. "Don't worry, Barbara. I'm out of your hair now." Then she headed towards the elevator doors again, and walked into them, leaning against the far wall as she used to, looking for all in the world that she still lived in her old apartment and was going out on her Friday night sweep. "Tell Dinah I said bye."  
  
And then the doors closed and she was gone as soon as she'd arrived.  
  
The walls were faintly mocking her, insisting that she'd done something wrong, or that she could have found some way to make her stay longer - the rational part of her mind certain that if she had only asked, Helena would have agreed to do a short sweep on her way home; that she would never turn her back on her city or her people. the way her father had.  
  
Perhaps that was what got to her so much. That Helena was deserting the exact way her father had.  
  
And maybe if she'd asked him to stay. he would have.  
  
***  
  
"Honey, I'm home!" Helena teasingly called to the apartment, her eyes alighting on Reese, though he didn't bother to look up from his desk.  
  
"Hey, *honey*, maybe you can help me find my." he trailed off when he saw her taking off his black leather jacket and hanging it on the hooks by the door. "Never mind."  
  
She smiled at him pertly. "And look. I brought nourishment. It's really your turn to get dinner, though."  
  
Reese got up from his desk slowly and placed a kiss on her right temple. He sniffed the bag experimentally. "McDonald's. Dinner of champions."  
  
Helena perched on the corner of his desk and watched him take the cheeseburger out with a tender smile. She could feel it curve her lips and had to cover it by coughing because it sure as hell wasn't going away.  
  
He looked up. "You want some?"  
  
Wrinkling her nose, she shook her head. "I'm gonna go take a shower and get this grime off me. I don't remember the petition to put all fast food joints in the dirty section of town, but apparently it passed, because the mud on my face isn't from the facial I had this morning." She slid off the desk and headed for the single bathroom.  
  
"Hey! You clogged up the sink!" He called to the closing door.  
  
A few seconds passed and he wasn't sure if she'd heard him, but then her head popped around the door with a mischievous grin. "Sue me."  
  
Reese shook his head slowly, and waved her off dismissively. She gave him a small grin and then closed the door.  
  
"What am I going to do with you?"  
  
***  
  
She heard the hollow footsteps as they descended the metal staircase but continued keying in the data for information on Arkham's newest arrivals. A few more moments passed and she saw Dinah's blonde head out of the corner of her eye.  
  
"Is she gone?"  
  
Now, she turned and faced her protégé. "She asked for you."  
  
"I don't care."  
  
"Yes, she's gone." Barbara said unnecessarily, and then took a deep breath as she prepared to try out the line of reasoning that had been running through her head for the past half hour. "Dinah, we just have to give her space. She'll come back."  
  
Dinah folded her arms and stared at her mentor resolutely. "Who said I wanted her back?"  
  
Barbara hid the sad smile that had broken out when she'd spoken in the harsh tone by placing a hand above her mouth. "You didn't have to. We *both* do," she revealed to her, leaving the keyboards and turning to face her completely.  
  
Dinah held her gaze for a long, searching moment, and then broke the silence by clasping the mesh necklace and powering it on. Her hand automatically reached up to make sure that the earrings were in place and then she walked down the ramp and waited for the elevator.  
  
"You going to be okay?" Barbara called after her, worried for some reason, though by now Dinah was more than qualified, having successfully completed more than several nights and no doubt by herself, due to Helena's prolonged absence.  
  
The false wall slid back and she stepped into the elevator. "You're watching me, right? I'll be fine."  
  
When she was gone, the redhead slumped back into her chair and saw that her pants were wet. She touched the twin spots on either leg and then confirmed her suspicions by touching her wet cheeks.  
  
"When are you going to come back to us, Helena? We need you."  
  
* * *  
  
There were times Reese cursed himself. Like, when he forgot he had a really beautiful roommate living with him, who liked to take showers with the door unlocked.  
  
Now, as he stared at the door that led to that same room and wondered if there was a sign above his head announcing that he was the world's biggest idiot.  
  
After he'd finished his Big Mac, and rested for a few minutes, Reese headed for the bathroom to brush his teeth. He didn't mind the onions and the pickles, he just didn't like them on his breath. Without thinking, he opened the door and walked right into the bathroom, reaching for his toothbrush as he turned on the sink.  
  
It wasn't until he heard Helena clear her throat and saw her wet head poking out of the shower when he realized that he'd walked in without knocking and that the shower curtain was see-through. Not *completely* see- through, but enough to leave little to the imagination. He flushed and closed his eyes, turning his back to the shower and winning the award for world's fastest tooth-brushing.  
  
His hand was on the doorknob when she spoke. "You know, Reese, it's okay. It was bound to happen someday."  
  
What happened next was a combination of a few things. The first of which, was the subway system's fault, and they had no control over that. The next was Reese's fault, and he honestly believed he had lost all control over that when he first saw her.  
  
The subway roared beneath the apartment building and rattled things in the bathroom, as it was prone to do. This time, though, it jumped to the next level and rattled the rod that held the shower curtain up right off the wall.  
  
Thankfully, Helena's back was also to the door, and the curtain stopped sliding down the wall to prop itself up haphazardly at about waist length. Reese automatically turned around and saw the sleek curve of her wet back and dripping hair as the water pounded on. Helena turned her head halfway and bit back the grin on her face.  
  
"Reese." He slowly dragged his gaze up to her face. "You're staring."  
  
He closed his eyes again and laughed nervously, backing out of the room with one hand held in front of him for guidance. When he made it to the door, she decided that she had never cleared a room so quickly.  
  
"If being half-naked works this well, I should have skimped more on the outfit," she mused, reaching to fix the curtain. "Good thing it didn't fall any lower."  
  
* * *  
  
So that was how he'd come to be sitting out here, on the couch, waiting for her to exit the bathroom so they could decide if they were talking about what had just happened or not.  
  
When he was about to go up and bang on the door in frustration, the bathroom door opened and steam poured out, fogging the mirror across the hall. Helena, hair damp and chaotic, was wrapped up in his black robe and as with most of the clothes she borrowed from him, it was huge on her slender frame.  
  
"So," he began and sat back down.  
  
She fought hard to keep the smirk from appearing and sat down next to him, as she was accustomed. Closeness wasn't something she craved or even wanted, but when it came to him, she found herself always wanting to be closer. "We're adults, Reese. Things happen. We're not going to let this get to us, right?"  
  
His eyes slid over to hers. "Right."  
  
"Good," she smiled, reaching for the TV remote. She'd surfed about five channels when he took it out of her hand and clicked it off.  
  
"We can't just ignore this, Helena. I saw you practically naked."  
  
"Actually," she corrected, "I was definitely completely naked behind that curtain." Her blue eyes sparkled wickedly and he let his head fall back on the headrest with a groan.  
  
"You're going to make this difficult for me, aren't you?"  
  
Helena considered, then leaned into him playfully. "Naah. Why would I do a thing like that?" He breathed a sigh of relief. "It's not like I haven't walked in on you before."  
  
Reese shot up like an arrow. "*What*?"  
  
She grinned. "Kidding, kidding. The worst habit I've yet uncovered about you is that you talk in your sleep."  
  
His jaw dropped open.  
  
It was quiet for the next few minutes while he recovered and she sobered up until blurting out, "I went to see Barbara today."  
  
Knowing by now, who Barbara was and what, exactly the situation was between them, Reese stared at her silently, waiting for her to continue.  
  
"I went to get directions. For dinner." She paused reflectively. "Dinah was there."  
  
He knew who Dinah was, too. "*And*?"  
  
Helena got up and looked out the window. "She wouldn't talk to me. Kid left the room, actually, and so I had one of the most awkward conversations in my life with Or-Barbara."  
  
"More awkward than the one we're having now?" She glared at him and he put his hands up. "Sorry. I had to ask."  
  
Reese got up from the couch and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You're going to have to trust that things will work out."  
  
She turned and found she couldn't meet his eyes. Not when he was this close. "I hate waiting."  
  
He laughed and went to take a shower of his own. "And don't think I won't lock this door," he called over his shoulder, closing it behind him.  
  
"What makes him think that a door could keep me out?" Helena wondered aloud, finally moving away from the window and looking at what was rapidly becoming her apartment, too.  
  
'Because it almost kept you out today at the Clocktower.'  
  
* * *  
  
A faint, tinny noise was coming from Reese's room. Helena sighed irritatedly, and tracked the sound to his nightstand drawer, which she opened without hesitation. Inside the drawer was the tinfoil ball she'd wrapped the earrings and her mesh necklace in and it rested in her palm for a few moments before she unwrapped it.  
  
Reese came out of the shower through the door that connected to his room and saw his drawer open. "Hey!"  
  
She put a hand up and mechanically put the earrings through. He realized what she was doing and moved to help her shaky hands clasp the necklace. A bit of the tension went out of her body and he was close enough to hear the voice that was echoing from the earpiece.  
  
"Huntress. Huntress, please come in. It's Oracle and-"  
  
Helena decisively turned the switch on the necklace and responded immediately. "Oracle, what's wrong?"  
  
There was a pause on her end, probably because she hadn't expected her to answer. "Dinah's missing."  
  
She flinched and pressed a hand to her head. "Dammit." As she went about Reese's room, looking for her duster, "Where was she last?"  
  
"Gibson said he saw her leave No Man's Land with a guy he'd never seen before. Caucasian, about your height, blonde hair."  
  
"I'm on it. Huntress out." She turned off the transceiver and turned to Reese, who was by now, fully clothed. "Dinah's missing. I have to go-"  
  
He grabbed her by the arm and nodded. "I know. I'm coming with you." He strapped his shoulder holster and reached for his gun, making sure that it was loaded. Helena grabbed a crude-looking crossbow and headed out the door.  
  
"Wait." Reese called after her, having ducked into the kitchen and grabbed something out of the fridge. He carefully handed her two vials of liquid, one kryptonite green, the other a deep blue. She fitted the blue one in a slot on the crossbow, tucked it on the outside of her right thigh, and strolled out the door.  
  
They split up when they hit the street. He was about to go for his car when she grabbed his arm. "Be careful." Reese held her gaze a beat longer than necessary and nodded. His eyes tracked her as she scaled the wall and landed on the roof. Only when she was two buildings away and out of sight did he get in his car and start to drive away.  
  
* * *  
  
Huntress tapped her earpiece and waited for Oracle to respond. "This is all my fault," she muttered, flipping over a large pipe and landing on the next rooftop.  
  
"No, it's not," Oracle finally answered.  
  
There was comm silence for a few moments and then she went on with her request. "Can you tune my frequency to Reese's cell phone? He's following me the best he can to No Man's Land, and-"  
  
"Hello, Detective," She heard Oracle cut her off and then wait for his reply.  
  
"Hi," he sounded a bit uncertain. "You're Oracle? The voice?"  
  
"I see Helena's told you quite a bit."  
  
Huntress rolled her eyes. "I'm right here, you guys."  
  
Reese chuckled softly and she softened. "Just makin' sure, Huntress."  
  
Oracle, who was hearing all this from the Clocktower and tracking Huntress's vitals and location, watched as her former protégé's heartbeat slowed from the fast beat it had been previously. He'd calmed her down efficiently and didn't make her feel like a child while doing it. 'Useful skill,' she mused and wondered if there wasn't anything between them.  
  
"Two words, Detective. Sleep. Talk. I can hear it from the living room." Or they could just be friends.  
  
Reese quieted, embarrassed, and waited for his next instruction.  
  
"All right," Huntress said in both of their ears, "I'm here. I'm gonna go in and ask a few questions and grab a few things that Gibson has for me. Be back in a few. Oh, and Oracle, give Reese directions to NML, will you? He lost me a five blocks back. Huntress out."  
  
* * *  
  
She walked out of the lift with the confidence that saturated her every move, though inside she was scared and shaking with the thought that Dinah could end up like her mother. With that thought in mind, she headed directly for the bar and scared the crap out of Gibson when she tapped him on the shoulder.  
  
He knew immediately that it was her, but wasn't prepared for seeing her after a two-month hiatus. "Huntress!" She smiled at his discomfort and rested a hand on his arm to calm him down. Letting the meta-human community that she was back on the streets wasn't exactly the way she wanted to go about this.  
  
"Gibson."  
  
He recognized that tone and relaxed at once. "Haven't seen you in a while. Everything okay?"  
  
She considered and shook her head. "Not exactly."  
  
"Come on," he headed for the quiet room attached to the end of the bar. Usually it was filled with people trying to make out and those who simply sought after quiet. Tonight, there was one girl inside, reading a book.  
  
Huntress rolled her eyes and narrowed them at her. "Beat it, bookworm." The girl's eyes widened and she dropped her book several times before she successfully exited the room.  
  
Gibson gave her a reproving stare until she relented. "Sorry. But I don't have time for that."  
  
"Those are customers, Helena. You can't just-" He stopped, knowing it was futile to try and make her understand. "Anyway. What can I do for you?"  
  
"Oracle contacted you a while ago, asking about Dinah?" She waited for his nod. "I need a description of the guy she left with."  
  
He gave it to her and she nodded as it matched up with Barbara's, though it was a bit more detailed, since he never forgot a face. "Anything else you can remember?"  
  
"I think he was wearing a navy shirt. and he might have had blue eyes. I really didn't get a close look at him. Sorry."  
  
Huntress shook her head impatiently. "No, it's okay. Now, do you have that thing I dropped off here earlier tonight?"  
  
Gibson gave her a sly grin. "So that was you who dropped it off. When Frosty's replacement, Chilly, handed it to me, I wondered. Then Dinah dropped by and I thought you two had some underground trafficking service that you were using NML as a front for." He reached behind a painting in the small room and turned the dial on the wall-safe. A small, ordinary manila package rested in his hand and she grabbed it from him eagerly.  
  
"Thanks, Gibson. I owe you one."  
  
"Just make sure our favorite orphan meta gets back safe and we'll call it even." He knew by the swirl of the air moments earlier, that she had already left the room, but he had a feeling she would hear him anyway.  
  
* * *  
  
"Oracle, I'm leaving NML now. I talked to Gibson and he pretty much confirmed what you said." There was a pause. "Does he know you have surveillance cameras in there?"  
  
Reese had been parked outside of an all-night convenience store when he saw Huntress exit No Man's Land a block away. She spotted him almost straight away and strolled over to his car.  
  
He rolled the window down and she leaned down on the frame, dropping a light package on his lap.  
  
"What's this?"  
  
She smiled coyly. "Open it, Reese, before it blows up your car."  
  
Reese shot her a look and she rolled her eyes. He tore of the end of easily enough and rolled a small black box into his waiting hand. When he opened it, a small earpiece rested in black foam, with a green light blinking faintly at the end. His eyes flicked up to hers expectantly.  
  
Huntress sighed and leaned in closer to him, making sure no one on the street could hear. "It'll keep you in constant contact with me and Oracle. It's wireless, and undetectable in all buildings and security checks. Plus, your hand won't get tired from holding the cell phone all night." She left for the skyline, certain he would get the hang of it.  
  
He inserted it gingerly and heard the click as it turned on. The next thing he heard was, "Can you hear me?" and it was so clear he though she was still standing next to him.  
  
"Yeah. This thing is nice."  
  
"Oracle designed it in her spare time."  
  
"One of these days, I'm going to have to meet her, you know."  
  
"Hey, if we make it out of this alive, I'll even take you to our base. Now hold on, I'm going to switch us over to her frequency." A resounding tweet signaled the switch and he turned the car back on and headed for the next left.  
  
"Oracle, we're here whenever you're ready."  
  
* * *  
  
Barbara, who was still getting used to working with Helena again, leaned forward to scan her computer screen. "What do you mean, 'we'?"  
  
She heard Huntress sigh. "I mean, I nicked one of the new earpieces off your desk when you gave me directions this morning." She snorted. "Did you honestly think I didn't know where the nearest McDonald's was?"  
  
Oracle allowed herself a smile. "Sure. That's why you kept going to the one across town."  
  
Reese chuckled softly. "This is okay with you then?"  
  
"While I'd rather Helena discussed it with me beforehand, this *will* make our job a lot easier. And besides, now I can track you both."  
  
"Track us?" He asked, confused. "What exactly does this thing do?"  
  
"I assume Huntress has explained the basics; communication and bypassing security, but it also has a small tracking device that enables me to keep you in my sights as well as help direct you to the nearest exit, and the like."  
  
"Oh."  
  
She laughed, brushing back some of her hair. "Don't sound so wowed, Detective Reese. It's just your basic GPS chip and a private comm."  
  
"Anyway," Huntress interrupted impatiently, and her voice seemed to echo inside the Clocktower. "Have you gotten anything on Dinah?"  
  
And so it was back to business. "It's weird. I've been tracking her signal which has been coming in and out," she glanced at the screen and "- Detective, take that next right, there's been some street cleaning and you won't be able to get through-while it hasn't been steady, it's been coming through enough so that I've narrowed down her position to a few locations. It's just a matter of checking them out and seeing if she's there." Oracle gave the locations out and listened as the two partners split them up.  
  
Huntress sighed at her half and muttered, "I swear to God if that girl left her necklace on some car and is over at Gabby's the whole time, I'm going to skin her alive."  
  
"Who's Gabby?"  
  
"Ah, a friend of Dinah's," Oracle replied, trying to steer to conversation back on track, "And Helena, I don't think she'd do something like this after the past few months she's had. She knows what she's doing, and this isn't like her."  
  
"I know. Kid just worries me sometimes, that's all."  
  
Oracle pursed her lips to keep from smiling and leaned back from the desk. She knew Helena was hear it over the comm. There was a noise from behind her and she saw Alfred place a mug of tea next to her. "Thank you, Alfred."  
  
"My pleasure, Miss Barbara. Though may I say that it is good to hear Miss Helena's voice in the Clocktower again."  
  
She smiled briefly and took a long sip of her tea. "I'd forgotten how much I missed this-" she gestured at the computers and to the woman who was tracking through the rooftops of New Gotham. "She's one of the best."  
  
Alfred looked at her for a moment and began to tidy up the computer area. "A lot like her father, though. Doesn't take too well to invasions of her privacy."  
  
Oracle flushed and put her tea down heavily. "I should have known better, Alfred, but. I was worried. I should have just trusted her."  
  
"Yeah, you should have," Helena's voice interrupted them, and Oracle saw that she was talking on a private frequency. Apparently she didn't share everything with Reese. "But it's over now and the most important thing is finding Dinah."  
  
"I forgot how exceptional your hearing was," Oracle remarked, feeling comfortable enough to lean back in her chair.  
  
"That's a dangerous thing to underestimate, Oracle." Huntress chided.  
  
"Don't I know," she spoke ruefully, thinking of past occasions when she had done the very same thing. Conversations to a butler about a certain redhead who like to help the superheroes fight crime in the towns where it was desperately needed. Conversations that had been overheard by a hurting 18-year-old who would have died for vengeance. Conversations that turned a teenager into a force to be reckoned with. It was a conversation that had turned her away. Funny that it should be a conversation that would bring her back.  
  
An alert came over the computer, drawing her out of her reverie and she bent forward to look closer. "Huntress, Detective, another one of Dinah's locations just tapped in." She zeroed in on where the signal had come from. "She's at the dockyards," Oracle replied, when the signal had stayed on for a time, coming in stronger now. A familiar moan filled the Clocktower and her eyes widened. "And she needs help."  
  
"On it," they replied, and both turned around for the water.  
  
* * *  
  
Well this thing just took a life of its own. I'm really supposed to be doing a mythology report right now, but I decided you all needed a good does of BoP, since we're counting down the days until February 19th. I can't wait.  
  
Reviews make me write more and faster! So review!!  
  
I also have to thank a very special reader (You know who you are) for giving me the idea about the shower thing. I wasn't sure how I was going to work that in, but it turned out just fine. 


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